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Rutgers Faculty Pass Resolution on December 14, 2015

Rutgers faculty oppose use of some 'big data' in academic and employment decisions: Resolution raises concerns of mistakes and narrowing scholarship

Contacts:

David M. Hughes
Professor of Anthropology
President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey
732-501-7711

Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel
Professor of Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies and Comparative Literature
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

Larry S. Temkin
Distinguished Professor and Chair
Department of Philosophy
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

NEW BRUNSWICK…Use of a proprietary database that purports to show the publications, citations, books and grants awarded to a professor provides far too limited a perspective on faculty achievement and creates the potential for career-ending errors, according to David M. Hughes, professor of anthropology and president of the faculty union. The same data applied to academic disciplines could lead to poor decisions on programs available to students and should not be used, according to a resolution approved by the faculty of Arts and Sciences today.

Hughes and the rest of the School of Arts and Sciences faculty voted to approve a resolution and is calling on Rutgers management to exclude the use of data provider Academics Analytics “legally, explicitly, and comprehensively across the Rutgers system.” Rutgers has been using the database since May 2013, paying $492,500 over four years for the service.

Under the terms of the contract, faculty members do not have access to the data. Hughes filed an open public records request to access his personal record in the system and found multiple mistakes. In addition to the potential for error, “The entirely quantitative approach conflates apples and oranges and runs roughshod over the nuanced peer judgment so characteristic of Academia thus far,” said Hughes.

Professor of Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies and Comparative Literature Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel identified how Academic Analytics assesses publications in international venues, or rankings of scholarship in smaller, emerging fields, or interdisciplinary programs as a concern. “Faculty thinks that scholarship should be assessed by peers based on the quality of the content and not on the numerical value assigned to a particular journal in a particular field,” she said. “Rutgers should have consulted its faculty before signing a contract with this company.”